Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

Longboarder

Longboarder

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Sometime ago I replaced the stock pickups on my epi dot ("57 classic") for Duncan Phat Cats. These are of course epi's version very different from Gib 57 classics. Just out of curiosity: Is it worth messing up with these pups to make em sound any better..............swap mags?
 
Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

They're just not made with the same quality of materials or workmanship as American or European-made PU's. No getting around that. Don't confuse them with Gibson '57 Classics, which are made to much higher standards. They produce a PU that transmits sound, but aren't as concerned about consistency or tone quality. Not their fault, it's not a major factor at that price point, and they're filling orders as they're spec'd out.

You can improve the sound by removing as much wax as possible (they're packed full of the stuff) and maybe a mag swap too. In that case, they'll do in a pinch until you can afford better PU's. But, remember you can get used high-quality PU's online for about half price. I've replaced all the Asian-made PU's in my guitars, as they just don't have the clarity, depth, and tone quality. If you play with tons of distortion and effects, thru a solid state amp, you may not hear much difference between a good PU and a cheap one, but the better the amp, the more the difference in tone quality becomes apparent.

In my experience, and I am known as the 'King of Mid-priced Imports', Asian-made single coils sound better than Asian-made HB's, presumably because there's less for them to do wrong. Plus P-90's have 2 magents per coil, whereas HB's have 1/2 magnet per coil, so the windings don't have as much impact on the tone. Even so, you'll hear a difference with a high-quality P-90 vs an Asian-made P-90.

I think eventually all medium-priced imports will have well-made, good-sounding PU's, as the market will continue to be more competitive. It's not rocket science to make a PU, and eventually the Asians will learn the 'secrets' of winding excellent PU's, and they'll be able to do it at a much lower cost. That day is coming. They manufacture almost everything else these days. All they have to do is make the investment to hire some experienced PU winders from a big maker or a boutique company, and step up their quality control, and they will be a force to be reckoned with.
 
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Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

Well I already have a pair of Phat Cats on that guitar. Not a pro, I only jam with friends with my Fender Superchamp Dx. It's a small amp but I think has a nice tone to it. Use on the clean channel with a Digitech multi-efect and not that much distortion. Was only wondering if it is worth messing up with those pickups for some other project........maybe I just throw them away.
 
Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

Keep them just in case. If you sell a guitar with upgraded PU's, you may not get any more for it than if it had the cheap stock PU's. In other words, most of the time you're throwing in the good PU's for free, which is crazy. I've gotten a number of nice PU's that way (that came upgraded on guitars).
 
Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

Rewinding the bridge would be cool.You can send in the pickups and ask about different windings.One would be can this pickup sound like a slash model pickup.Also if your talkin about projects like buying an epi les paul and droping newley rewound pickups in there look becomes apart of the project as well so maybe an epi jimmy page les paul could happen.
 
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Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

Longboarder said:
Sometime ago I replaced the stock pickups on my epi dot ("57 classic") for Duncan Phat Cats. These are of course epi's version very different from Gib 57 classics. Just out of curiosity: Is it worth messing up with these pups to make em sound any better..............swap mags?
Click to expand...

To make those p'ups useable, you need to take off all excess wax, change the baseplate, the polepiece screws and specially the SLUGS (man, they suck beyond any description...).

And you can't really use any of'em as a neck p'up (in that serie '57 Classic all neck p'ups measured ca. 8.35-8.55K, which is much too high for an articulated neck p'up (should read 7.2-7.6K).

Do the math an see if it would be worth your time and money... in my case I did it just to learn 'bout p'up making.

What I've learned was that the best solution money-wise was to use Duncan and/or Gibson winds whenever possible and change magnets to fine-tune the tone with the rest of the rig.

YMMV.

HTH,
 
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Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

LtKojak said:
change the baseplate
Click to expand...

^
This grabbed my attention.

One of the immediate giveaway features of a dogbreath pickup is the cheap baseplate. You don't even need to wire one of those suckers into a volume/tone control circuit to know that it will sound like a POS. (If you are very lucky, it might be acceptable for slide.)

On a slight tangent, the Gibson P100 stacked coil soapbar/dogear pickup has no metal baseplate. The SD P90 Stack does have a metal baseplate. IMO, it sounds marginally less unlike the real thing than the P100.

*

Getting back to the OP, Epiphone pickups have certainly improved in leaps and bounds over the last decade. You can almost convince yourself that they are the business UNTIL, that is, you hear somebody else's modified Epiphone with pro quality pickups installed. (Same goes for mid-priced LTD, Cort, Schecter, Ibanez et cetera.)

blueman and LtKojak have said everything else that needs to be said. :cool2:
 
Re: Is it worth swapping mags on epi "57 classic" pups

Don't really think is worth the trouble. Maybe the best advise is to keep em in case I decide to sell the guitar.
 
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